


One Last Chance

by orphan_account



Category: Hermitcraft RPF
Genre: Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Arguing, Brotherly Love, Character Death, Death, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Explicit Language, FUCK NOTCH, Fights, Fluff and Angst, Hurt No Comfort, Hurt/Comfort, Major Character Injury, Other, Serious Injuries, Swearing, Xisuma is a bit of an asshole, not that much tho
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-25
Updated: 2020-05-29
Packaged: 2021-03-02 23:54:56
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Major Character Death
Chapters: 5
Words: 8,779
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24375382
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: After being banned for so long, Ex finally gets his second chance, but can he redeem himself to everyone?
Relationships: Grian & Evil Xisuma, NPG & Evil Xisuma, Stressmonster101 & Evil Xisuma, TangoTek & Evil Xisuma, Xisumavoid & Evil Xisuma
Comments: 14
Kudos: 191





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> -This takes place during the 1.16 update.
> 
> -Evil X has a similar situation as in Wreck-it Ralph. He was a player who's coding got disconnected when he was banned, resulting in him basically becoming a glitch. So Ex doesn't function exactly like other players
> 
> -The server takes place on a normal survival world, no permadeath.
> 
> -Banned players are sent to the void. That's where Ex was throughout his ban.
> 
> -Xisuma intentionally unbanned Ex but acts like it was an accident and he can't re-ban him.

[Evil Xisuma joined the game]

A surprised gasp slipped through the male's scarred lips as he stumbled to the ground below him, legs unable to process the feeling of a surface bellow his feet after so long of floating endlessly in darkness. Soft swears left him too as he squeezed his eyes shut, the sun blinding him through the visor attached to his helmet as he stayed on the ground, trying to keep himself fainting at the sudden shift in surroundings and air quality.

Ex shakily reaches up and tapped a button on the side of his helmet, unlocking it as he shifted to be sitting on his knees. The male moved his gaze up and blinked rapidly as his eyes adjusted to the bright sun.

He eventually slipped off his helmet, setting it aside and taking a deep breath as he slowly looked at the surroundings, eyes moving across the water and the island he was on along with the ones in the distance, a small smile hit his face as he watched the leaves on the oak trees sway softly in the wind. Ex's smile eventually fell and he shut his eyes with a sigh, wanting to just cherish the second he'd have here before Xisuma would re-ban him.

The server communicator was silent for a moment, before exploding with activity.

[Iskall85: What is HE doing here??]

[MumboJumbo: Oh no]

[Iskall85: Xisuma?? Can you explain?!!]

[Grian: Wait who's Evil Xisuma?]

[Xisuma: I can't ban him, it's not working]

[Tango: I'm heading to spawn right now]

[Docm77: Wait for me]

[Grian: Guys?? Context??]

Ex opened his eyes with a flinch as the sound of rockets hit his ears, glancing around before spotting Tango, Iskall, and Doc in the air with their elytra's.

He quickly shifted and grabbed his helmet, slipping it on and locking it in place as he was knocked over to be flat on the ground, a foot pressing down on the back of his helmet to keep him in place as his visor was pressed against the dirt, a small crack growing across it as Tango kept him in place while Iskall messaged Xisuma on where they were.

Ex's eyes locked on the creeper hybrid from under his helmet, staring at the fake pair of wings he wore on his back in slight confusion, as he didn't remember what they were. It had been a long while since he was banned, he forgot almost everything besides the basic things. Doc noticed the shorter male's staring and narrowed his eyes, so Ex looked away.

Another figure joined the three standing men and Ex swore under his breath, recognizing the forth person as Xisuma just from his boots alone. His gaze shifted to the admin, noticing the look of annoyance in the brunette's eyes, along with something else he couldn't identify.

Xisuma didn't say anything, he just stared down at his twin before a soft snarl left him. "Move off of him Tango." He said, getting a nod from the blonde as Tango moved back, taking his foot off Ex's helmet. Ex moved to prop himself up on his arms, wiping the dirt off his helmet as he glared over at Xisuma with a ticked expression.

He really did miss the admin though.

"What are we going to do with him," Doc asked quietly, glancing over at Xisuma before looking back down at Ex. Xisuma gave a small shake of the head before looking over at Iskall and Doc. "You guys head back to whatever you're doing. Tango, you're going to show him around, just do not show him anybody's bases."

Iskall made a surprised noise and stared at Xisuma, a confused look across their face that shifted to slight anger. "You've got to be kidding me. Are you seriously going to let him STAY? He almost blew up the fucking server before!" They asked, looking Xisuma up and down.

"I can't /ban/ him, it's not functioning correctly. He'd just be kicked out and then sent back here. The most we can do until it gets fixed is keeping an eye on him." Xisuma answered before gesturing for them and Doc to leave.

Doc gave a small scowl before nodding slightly, adjusting his elytra and setting a few rockets off, flying away with an annoyed huff. Iskall was quick to follow him.

Xisuma glanced over at Tango before looking over at Ex. "Get up." He said, watching his twin.

Ex stayed on the ground, not out of stubbornness, he just couldn't stay standing after so long of floating. He shifted his position to be kneeling as he watched the hybrid and human fly away; taking a moment to process what Xisuma said earlier.

"The most we can do until it gets fixed is keeping an eye on him."

'So he didn't mean to unban me. Of course.' The thought crossed his mind and earned a soft sigh from him in response. He knew Xisuma was going to still be mad, but he thought by now it was going to be less than this.

He jolted in surprise as a gloved hand quickly yanked him up onto his feet, stumbling slightly as he tried to keep himself from falling over again, an embarrassed blush growing on his face as Tango moved to take Xisuma's place and keep him up.

Thank god for the fact that his visor was red.

"Go show him around." Xisuma said plainly, giving Ex a cold glance before flying off.

Tango looked over at Ex and then moved away, putting down his end chest and opening it to look through it while Ex got himself used to the feeling of standing again.

When he got himself steady Tango tossed an elytra at him, confusion hitting the shorter male's face as he looked at it and then at Tango.

"Put it on, we're going to the shopping district." Tango said, tossing him a few rockets before picking his end chest up and putting it away.

"I don't know how to use this."

Tango glanced up at the male and cocked an eyebrow. "You were around when they came along, what do you mean you don't know how to use it?" The blonde said, crossing his arms.

"I haven't been anywhere but darkness in years, I think you'd forget how to do shit too, asshat." Ex spat in reply, narrowing his eyes as put the elytra on anyways.

The blonde gave the other a quick rundown on how to use the elytra, laughing slightly as Ex's first attempt resulted in him falling into the ocean, he eventually got used to it enough to fly around a bit.

Ex ungracefully landed back down next to the male and stumbled, nearly falling over again; getting another laugh from Tango as he adjusted his elytra.

"Let's go, shopping district." Tango said as he spread the elytra and set off a rocket, flying up and glancing back to watch Ex try it again. The red cladded male fell into the water again and Tango rolled his eyes.

"You have a lot to learn, cmon." He said as he flew off, Ex quickly got himself together again and followed after him.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> -Other information will be at the end of the chapter this time!!

Ex had forgotten how nice everything outside the void actually was.

The afternoon sun reflected off the water as they flew over it, the fish swam around in their schools as Ex really took in how pretty all of the aquatic animals were.

A dolphin swam around the smaller schools of fish and whistled under the water, speeding up to meet up with another dolphin a little bit away while knocking around a few spare pieces of coral.

Turtles swirled through the seaweed, baby turtles hastily swimming after their mothers.

A soft smile spread across his face as he flew down closer to the water, sticking a hand out to graze his fingers across the water.

He really missed all this.

Tango glanced back and could tell from the soft look in the other's eyes that he was smiling. "Wow, who knew the big and bad Evil X would be smiling over a few fish. What's next, softie?" He teased.

The other male narrowed his eyes and moved his hand away. "You tell anybody and I'll have your head." He snarled, the smile stayed on his face though.

The two eventually made it to the shopping district and Tango landed swiftly onto the top of the nether portal platform with a hum, watching as Ex did the same; though, he overshot slightly. A laugh left the blonde as Ex hit the ground with a swear, a small crack was heard too as he sat up, glancing down at his health bar and scowling slightly at the three hearts left.

"That was a hard hit, are you alright?" A voice interrupted his thoughts and he looked up, his red eyes locking onto the chocolate brown ones that stared down at him. Ex took a moment to take in the others features. The strawberry blonde male wore a red sweater with the sleeves folded up to just below his elbows. He wore a simple pair of jeans and converse on his lower half. Nothing special

The male put a hand out to help Ex up and he grabbed it, getting up; which also gave him the realization that this guy was s h o r t, Ex towered over him, yet he was only 5'10.

"Are you the new guy everyone had a heart attack over in the server communicator? Evil Xisuma?" The shorter male said, tilting his head to the side slightly. Ex stood there for a moment before slowly nodding. "That's me, I'm nowhere near new though." He muttered

The other smiled and put his hand out again for Ex to shake. "Nice to meet you! I'm Grian."

Ex hesitated before shaking it as Tango glided down to join the two. "Hey Grian."

Grian gave a small wave with a smile before looking back over at Ex. "You look like Ex-eye-Zooma.. just in red with a broken visor.."

Ex blinked. "Broken V-" he reached up and felt the visor on the front of his helmet.

The visor had been cracked across where his right eye was from before, though, the impact of the fall resulted in it cracking the entire thing along with popping off the pieces of the visor by his eyes.

With a soft sigh he unlocked the helmet and took it off, running a hand through his white locks to get the strands that fell out of his ponytail and in-front of his face out of the way.

Tango stared at him, and Ex narrowed his eyes, raising a brow. "What?"

"I take back thinking that you two were perfect twins." Tango said to himself, originally imagining Ex to look exactly like the admin.

"The x scars on their faces match though!" Another voice joined the conversation and Ex looked over at who the voice came from while adjusting his ponytail.

The female had similar brown eyes to Grian, her brown hair came up to just below her chin and a flower crown sat in it. He didn't have time to look her over fully before she squealed, hugging him tightly

"Exy!! I didn't know you were back from being banned! Finally getting the second chance you deserve."

Ex stayed quiet for a moment before his brain processed who she was, he let a small smile grow on his face and hugged back. "Hey Stress. I thought everyone freaked out about me on the communicator."

"If they did, I didn't notice." She said, giving a small shrug before moving out of the hug.

Tango and Grian were visibly confused, when Stress realized she smiled softly and put an arm around Ex's shoulder.

"Exy and I were friends long before he had been banned, he had a soft spot for me." She coo'ed, and he rolled his eyes, moving her hand off of his shoulder. "She offered me cookies and I stuck around /just/ for that."

Grian and Tango laughed slightly. "Oh? So Ex likes cookies too?  
First he's got a soft spot for ocean animals and then he'll be your friend for cookies." Tango said, smiling softly as Ex narrowed his eyes at him again.

"Hush." He muttered, crossing his arms. "Don't you need to show me around this place? Or are you gonna continue pointing out how 'soft' I am."

Tango rolled his eyes and gestured for Ex to follow him. "You're the one who got caught up talking to Gri and Stress." He said, as Ex followed.

"Nooo I want to come with! I haven't seen Ex in years!" Stress said, rushing ahead to join the two on their walk around their place.

"Hey! I haven't even had a chance to talk to this guy! I'm coming too." Grian said, boosting himself over to them with his elytra before swiftly landing next to them.

Tango rolled his eyes softly and began to point things out to Ex.

-

By the time the tour had finished the sun was beginning to set, no one was really worried about it until False mentioned in chat that she'd actually need the night to do some things, so nobody would be able to skip the night

"We can head to my base and wait the night out!" Grian suggested, really wanting to talk with Ex more.

Stress nodded vigorously with a grin. "Sounds great to me!" She added, also wanting to catch up with the red cladded male, looking over at Ex and Tango.

Tango hesitated. "Xisuma said I can't bring him to anybody's bases-"

"-Who cares what Xisuma said?" Stress cut him off immediately, getting a surprised, over-exaggerated gasp from Grian. "There's three of us and one Ex. If he tries anything I'm 95% sure we could prevent it!"

Tango stayed quiet, so Grian and Stress gave him puppy dog eyes. "Come on Tango! You know you want to chat with him for a while!" Stress said, getting a small sigh from the blonde as he crossed his arms. "Fine, let's go."

Grian and Stress cheered, high-fiving each other before they set their elytras off and headed to the nether portal, Tango and Ex followed just behind them and slipped through the portal too.

-

The four landed in front of Grian's hobbit hole and Ex stared at it, absolutely blown away with how nice it was.

Grian noticed and snickered softly. "If he's this surprised by what I made I can't wait for Ex to see the details Bdubs throws into his builds."

Tango smiled and nodded slightly, while Ex just raised a brow. "Isn't Bdubs the one who's like a small, angry chihuahua?" He asked, getting a snort from Stress and wheezes followed by laughing from Grian and Tango.

"Is that a no?"

"No no, you are completely correct." Stress said, smiling slightly as Tango just laughed harder.

When the two finally calmed down they all finally headed inside and Ex looked around. "It's even nicer on the inside..wow." He said, looking over at Grian who smiled. "Thank you!"

And so the four stood around and began to chat, Grian learned more about Ex and vice versa. Tango got to see how much Ex changed, he wasn't as snappy or as much of an asshole as he used to be. Stress got to reconnect with her friend, and Ex gained people he could trust.

The sun rose quicker then they all expected and was quite disappointing when Professor Beak chirped as it hit the sky.

The group didn't let it stop them and continued to talk, slowly growing closer with each other as they laughed and chatted.

Stress was cut off in the middle of a story by the server communicator buzzing as her, Tango, and Grian took it out. Ex wasn't a player so he just leaned over Stress's shoulder to read the communicator.

[MumboJumbo was slain by a Piglin]

[Mumbo: You've gotta be kiddin me!]

Grian was the first to respond, typing faster then anyone thought the builder could type.

[Grian: Need some help from Gman?]

[Mumbo: That would be lovely, same place in the nether as last time]

Grian slipped his server communicator into his pocket and got up, adjusting his elytra and slipping on the other bits of armor. "I'll be right back."

"Wow, Grian's ditching his friends to go and save his boyfriend." Tango joked, smirking slightly at the faint blush that hit the strawberry blonde's face.

"He's not my boyfriend!" Grian said, shoving a stack of rockets into his off-hand.

"Grian, we've known about your relationship for a long time. You guys weren't the best at hiding it last season." Stress admitted to him, earning some surprised stammering from a very flustered Grian before he muttered a quick "Hush" and headed to his portal, going through it before anyone could say anything more.

Ex smiled slightly and looked at the other two. "Why is he saving Mumbo again?"

"That's a long story, so I'll just sum it up.  
A large part of the nether has been taken over by piglins, if you step anywhere near their territory you're basically dead immediately, which is why the nether is marked off with concrete." Tango explained, getting a small nod from Ex.

"And no one can do anything about it?"

Stress shook her head. "Nope, not even Xisuma. There's been some chat about a bigger piglin that seems to be the source from where all the other ones are coming from, no ones gotten close enough to see if it's true though."

Ex gave another small, understanding nod. "So you guys are basically confined to one bit of the nether?" He asked, getting a small nod from both of them.

"..Good to know." He murmured, glancing over at the cats Grian had around the house and crouched down, letting one walk over and sniff him before petting it softly.

"Oh! I wanted to ask-" Stress began before hesitating. "Do you possibly want to meet the other hermits again? Ssssince you've quite definitely changed and I think they should get to know you-  
The real you."

Ex blinked, the words 'the real you' processing in his mind.

He wasn't Evil Xisuma anymore, all the time in the void motivated him enough to change. The attempts to destroy the server were attempts from when he wasn't fully sure with what he wanted to be seen as, he wanted to be known as someone with the power Xisuma had; but he wasn't an admin, so he took the alternative title as the griefer with pride.

Hell, he was introduced by Xisuma as Xisuma's evil twin and went with it. When was the last time Ex got to hear his actual name? He didn't want to be evil anymore

And he was going to stick to that.

"Yeah.. Yeah, that's..  
I'm willing to try fixing things with everyone." He added as a small, nervous smile grew on his face. The response got an excited squeal from Stress as Tango messaged Grian on what they were going to do.

"Great!! I was thinking we start with good ol Scar. Does that sound alright to you, Exy?" Ex nodded, determination growing on his face.

"Yeah, that sounds great to me."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> -A piglin fortress got really big, and their "king" piglin is super powerful, in result their fortress became a large portion of the nether, stepping into their area is immediate death and if you want your items back you'll have to give them gold. A lot of it.
> 
> -The "King Piglin" is a normal piglin that got powerful through the update, it's base strength is stronger then a wither skeleton and in result it was very quickly able to take over sections of the nether. Xisuma is unable to do anything about it because he isn't even fully aware if the "King Piglin" exists.
> 
> -Grian and Mumbo are dating in this, everyone knows, they don't think the other hermits know; but they do.
> 
> -Ex and Stress were friends long before he got banned, she saw something in him that no one else saw, and was completely heartbroken when he was banned. She's always believed in second chances. Now that Ex is back she's determined to get him redeemed.
> 
> -Tango and Ex had a friendship before his banning too, which is why Tango was able to warm up to Ex pretty quickly this chapter.
> 
> -I apologize if Stress or Tango are OOC in any way, I don't watch them as often as I watch the others
> 
> -I didn't proofread again.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> -Other Info at end again!!

Things were going well.

Almost too well.

Grian had gotten Ex settled into a small rustic house with his lookalike; NPG, who Ex started calling Rusty. The two got along better than originally expected and Ex began to prepare to talk to the other hermits, NPG was encouraging him along the way.

It was a painfully slow process, but he was slowly beginning to redeem himself and be-friend the others. Cleo, Scar, and False were the easiest, they were straight away willing to give him a second chance, along with Ren and Keralis.

Bdubs was a bit nervous about it but was pretty quickly adjusted to the other, Etho and Joe were also a lot easier to convince then expected; Ex wasn't complaining though.

Cub, Mumbo, and Iskall were the hardest to at least talk to, the three wanted nothing to do with the scarred male.

Mumbo was begged by Grian to give Ex a chance, so Mumbo hesitantly interacted with the male more. The two clicked after a while; since Ex had no clue how to do redstone and the topic of it was quite intriguing to him. So he'd come around just to watch the man work his magic with the red dust and the other components, and Mumbo became used to his company

Ex planned on leaving Cub for last and turned his attention to Iskall after he redeemed himself as much as he could for now with Mumbo.

So here he was, making his way through the nether to reach the enby's portal as the server communicator buzzed. Tango had gotten his hands on an extra one for the male.

[Stress has been slain by a Piglin]

[Stress: Dangit!!]

Ex was quick to reply, shooting a message in the chat to the female.

[Evil Xisuma: Do you have the coords of where ya died?]

[Evil Xisuma: I'm in the nether after all.]

He watched the communicator and stopped walking, waiting for Stress to respond, eventually she messaged him the coordinates and Ex adjusted his elytra before heading off in the direction she gave in.

The red cladded male skidded to a halt and stumbled slightly as he fell over the line dividing the two sections of the nether, loud stampeding sounds of the piglin running against the netherrack filled his ears and for a moment he was expecting to also be killed as Stress had been.

Instead, he was surprised to be lifted up back onto his feet by the short mobs, they all oinked as a few of them circled him, looking Ex up and down before the group of them backed away.

"Uh.." Ex trailed off, at a loss of words because they didn't attack him. "Thank you.?" He muttered, stepping back from the crowd only to have a sword pressed to his back.

He paused, nervously standing still as one grunted and began heading deeper into their territory. The sword against his back nudged him forward and he found himself following the group, anxiety building up as he glanced around the area, breath catching in his throat as a piglin that was /way/ too tall to be normal came into view beyond the broken walls of the piglin's fortress.

The large piglin noticed the group and the void walker and grunted, the smaller piglin scattered away from around the male as the one with the sword lowered it from the male's back. Ex took a moment to observe it, eyes landing on the golden crown on its head.

The king piglin stepped forward and stared at Ex, a low grunt left it as it raised a brow.

Ex paused, glancing around nervously as his brain slowly translated the piglish. "I'm here to get my friend's items, she lost her things and.." he trailed over, avoiding looking at the creature as it stared at him.

Another grunt left the piglin as it looked over at a few of the other piglin standing around, stomping it's foot to get their attention before puffing.

A few of the piglin scrambled away and came back a moment later, tossing Stress's items in-front of the male before going off to what they were doing.

One of them made a gesture, wanting gold in return before the king piglin grunted at it, the piglin gave a high pitched squeal before grunting slightly and walking away.

Ex hesitantly picked the items up, muttering a soft "Thanks?" before very quickly spreading the wings of his elytra and setting off a rocket, flying out of the fortress as fast as possibles

He stumbled back over the line that separated the two halves and glanced back at the divided area while backing away, confusion settling in on his face as he realized he just got out of there with no trouble.

The male took a breath and took his server communicator out, shooting Stress a message

[Evil Xisuma: Where do you want me to drop your stuff off?]

Ex stayed silent, waiting for a response from the female.

[Stress: You got it that fast??]

[Stress: I'm at my portal!!]

Ex sighed slightly and glanced back at the piglin area again before heading to Stress's portal.

-

Thankfully for Ex, Stress's base wasn't far off from Iskall's tree so after dropping off the female's things he shifted his attention to going to redeem himself with the other.

It lasted longer then Ex wished, Iskall wasn't giving him the light of day and when he finally got them to acknowledge him Iskall basically yelled at him.

They didn't want anything to do with him, not anywhere near convinced that Ex could change, even if they wanted to believe it.

But, instead of just shooing him away decided to give the other another way of redeeming himself.

"If Xisuma is convinced that you can change, then I'll give you that chance. Now go." They said with a huff before turning back to what they had been doing.

Ex paused, he had been avoiding talking to Xisuma throughout the two weeks he was unbanned. He knew his twin was going to be the hardest one to convince, because Xisuma had been so hesitant to even let him near the others.

Ex adjusted his elytra and took a breath. "Fine." He hesitantly answered before flying over to Iskall's portal.

-

Turns out Xisuma was also avoiding interacting with Ex, the admin had been avoiding Ex every time he had seen the male around, even if he desperately had to talk to anyone Ex was with.

So when Ex came through Xisuma's base portal and the two locked eyes from under their helmets, Xisuma was already prepared to leave.

"Xisuma-"

"Don't bother, Ex." Xisuma huffed, turning his back to the other. He desperately wanted to believe that Ex was a good person, but his responsibilities as the server admin was to make sure Ex didn't do anything. He had to protect his friends; his second family.

Ex moved to grab Xisuma's arm and the admin quickly yanked it away. "I do not want to hear it!"

"Just listen to me! Why can't you just let me fucking SPEAK!?" Ex snapped, slamming his fist against the wall with a loud thud, shutting Xisuma up immediately.

A bitter silence filled the air, tension filling the room before Ex took a breath.

"I want to change-"

"Don't even start with that bullshit." Xisuma huffed, composure completely gone as he watched his twin sputter before beginning to walk away.

Ex quickly followed "You think I'd lie about wanting to be good??" He asked, honestly wanting to know the answer. "How can I redeem myself?! How can I get you to trust me?!"

Xisuma turned around to face him. "You can't redeem yourself! You're a GLITCH, you shouldn't even BE here! It's completely impossible for something like YOU to suddenly become GOOD! You're just as bad as those stupid piglin that are hogging up the nether, but honest to god their coding is probably less of a BURDEN to deal with!" He snapped, speaking before he could even process what just came out of his mouth.

Ex stepped back, eyes widening as he processed what his twin admitted to him. He could feel his eyes burn as tears pricked at the corner of his eyes while his face heated from the want to cry.

Thank god for his visor.

"Just, go home Ex." Xisuma huffed, walking away again.

Ex didn't follow him this time, instead, he turned back to the portal and stepped through it, popping out into the red of the netherrack with a soft sigh, unlocking his helmet and lifting the visor part up to wipe his eyes.

He slid down against the netherrack and pulled his knees to his chest, pressing his forehead to his knees as he tried to calm himself down.

"You're just as bad as those stupid piglin that are hogging up the nether, but honest to god their coding is probably less of a BURDEN to deal with!"

Ex took a breath and slowly got up, staring down at the ground below his feet before snapping his visor back into place and re-locking the helmet on, eyes glancing over to the border of the piglin territory just off in the distance.

Ex wasn't as bad as they were, they killed, they steal. He wasn't like that anymore. He was better than them.

As if a lightbulb lit up in his head he quickly slipped his elytra on and flew back to his own portal.

He knew what to do.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> //Hear that? That's the sound of the discord readers sobbing  
> Alright here's the other information I mentioned!!
> 
> -Ex wasn't attacked by the piglins or King piglin because his coding is a 'glitch'  
> He has the same coding as the king and in result they assumed he was a hostile mob like them.
> 
> -Xisuma's still mad that he had to ban Ex in the first place, if he knew what he said, he would've apologized straight away but was too mad to process what he said.
> 
> -Piglish is what piglins speak in
> 
> -Chapter 4 will be out in a few days ;)


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> -I am so sorry
> 
> -Everyone on the server is aware that Ex's coding is different and that if he died he would stay dead.

Ex stepped through the portal that linked the nether to his house and sighed slightly once he got through, glancing around the area before heading over to the rustic building and stepping inside.

He shut the door behind him and heard a bit of rustling and shuffling from upstairs, a moment later the strawberry blonde lookalike of Grian hovered downstairs.

A soft smile made it's way onto Ex's unhappy face as he put his arms out. "Hey Rusty."

NPG gave a small hum and basically crashed into the other, hugging him as tight as he knew the male could handle. "Hello Ex, how did your conversation with Iskall go?"

Ex hesitated, not wanting to mention to NPG what happened and have the other get pissed at Xisuma; he knew NPG would, so instead he decided to lie.

"Er, it went well, I guess."

NPG paused and pulled back from the hug, brown eyes staring into Ex's red ones before he narrowed them. "You're lying"

Ex blinked, pressing his lips into a thin line as NPG was quick to move and unlock the males helmet before Ex could protest, lifting it off of the other.

"You were crying"

Ex mentally cursed to himself, he knew that lying to NPG wouldn't work out well, but he didn't expect the other to realize that he had been crying.

NPG cupped his cheeks and gave a small frown, which honestly really hurt Ex to see since the other never showed anything along the lines of upset.

"What happened?"

"Nothing important, Rusty. Just... struggling to show them I'm changing."

"You're not changing" NPG began, moving to grab the other's hand a squeeze it softly. "You've already changed, they just haven't realized it yet."

A small smile grew on Ex's face as he squeezed NPG's hand back.

"Cmon, let's go do something.  
You like cookies, right? Grian gave me a new recipe for them."

Ex smiled wider, NPG knew him well.

-

Ex paused at the door when he heard the noise of NPG stop hovering and land on the wooden floor. "Where are you going?"

Ex took a breath, turning around. "I have to go talk to someone, I'll be back before you know it." The male said softly, putting his arms out for a hug.

NPG went over and hugged the other, hovering again to place a soft kiss on the other's nose. "Stay safe."

Ex smiled softly and ran a gloved hand through the strawberry blonde's hair before moving it down to grab his hand and give it a small squeeze. "Will do, I love you."

NPG smiled and squeezed his hand back "I love you too."

Even if he didn't want to, Ex slowly let go of the other's hand and moved back to the door, glancing back at his boyfriend and giving him a soft smile before opening the door and walking out, shutting it behind him.

He took a breath and sighed softly before heading to the nether portal.

-

Ex approached the line separating the two halves of the nether and took out his diamond sword, glancing down at it and twisting it around in his hand. The soft blue glow of the enchanted weapon lit up his helmet as he checked over the enchantments on it.

Sharpness 4, Unbreaking 3, Mending, Knockback 1.. Everything was ready

He bit his lip and glanced back up at the Crimson Forest in front of him, mind racing as he seriously reconsidered what he was about to do.

Ex didn't want to do this, but, at the same time, he had to prove he changed; and at this point, there was only one option.

And so, he stepped over the line.

He kept his sword behind his back as three piglin approached him, grunting as they swarmed around him slightly, one walked up to him and looked him up and down before grabbing his arm, supposedly to lead the male to their ruler.

Ex quickly drew his sword, slicing through the piglin with one quick swipe as it squealed, poofing into nothingness as a few orbs of exp hit the ground.

The two piglin's behind him squealed as one drew its sword too, rushing forward as Ex turned around and their swords clashed, diamond against gold. Ex was quick to move to the side as the other piglin back up, loading its crossbow; the feeling of the arrow clipping his arm and listening to the tear of the fabric earned a cringe from him before he managed to get a hit on the original one, knocking the sword out of its hand and away from it before bringing the sword down on its head.

His attention turned back to the last one as he was quick to duck away from its shot, biting his lip as he noticed the arrow in the tree just inches away from his helmet. The male knocked the piglin back and slash clean through its, a pained squeal leaving the mob as it also poofed into thin air as the other two had, crossbow dropping the floor.

Ex kicked the crossbow into a nearby hole and watched it plummet into the lava pool many blocks down before adjusting his helmet and looking back up at the forest.

There was no turning back now.

And so Ex began heading deeper into the forest, occasionally coming across a few groups of piglin on the lookout or out searching for players in their territory before quickly meeting their end by the male.

He snuck the piglin's with the babies, knowing the little shits could run back faster then he could catch up and alert the king of his presence; the one other thing he didn't want to happen.

Eventually, he ended up going in circles and sighed slightly; a new idea popped up into his head. Ex slipped his sword into his inventory and approached a group of eight piglin.

The group looked over and immediately swarmed him, minus the piglin with the golden helmet, most likely the leader. The male sucked in a breath, hoping they wouldn't realize he had attacked over 20 of their kind. He stayed still as the piglin's looked at each other and grunted, snorting and squealing before looking at Ex.

Ex took a shaky breath and tried to keep himself calm before he looked at the leader of the piglin's group.

"I need to see your king.."

-

The piglin led Ex to the fortress and to the 'throne room'; he had originally met the king in the entrance to the fortress, so seeing just how large the room actually was took his breath away. He didn't think the piglins were this well set up and it just made him more nervous about what he was about to do.

The king stood up from the throne and the leader of the group leading the piglins and Ex stepped forward and bowed, snorting and grunting a bit before one of the piglins pushed the red cladded male closer to the king.

Ex hesitated, deciding to also bow before the king before standing up straight. "I'd like to make a deal with you." He began, taking a gold block out and flashing it to the king, getting excited squeals from the piglins behind him when they spotted the shiny mineral. The king puffed at the sight and raised a brow, giving a nod before looking at the eight piglin in the room, a rumbling noise leaving its throat as it stomped its foot slightly. The piglin looked at each other before they all bowed and quickly left the room, leaving the large mob and the glitch alone.

The king's gaze shifted back to Ex and he snuffled, basically giving Ex the permission to begin speaking.

Ex took a breath and took his helmet off. "My friend's need materials, we aren't interested in all your gold." He slowly began, putting his hands behind his back while he slowly took out his sword. The king gurgled lowly.

"What's in it for you?" The male asked, getting a nod from the king. "My friends will leave your group alone, and I'll keep you supplied with gold every day.."

As the king pondered it, Ex quickly swiped his sword at the mob, freezing in surprise as his eyes widened when the king grabbed his arm, stopping the sword just inches away from its face. A growl slipped from the mob as it yanked Ex forward by his arm, using its other hand to yank the sword out of the void walker's grip before throwing it to the side and shoving the male back, taking out its own sword after Ex hit the ground.

Ex winced slightly as he hit the hard floor before looking back up with a gasp, quickly rolling out of the way as the enchanted golden sword slammed into the ground where he fell.

He got to his feet and ran to grab his sword, glancing back over his shoulder to see the king switch his sword to his other hand and take a crossbow out. He grabbed his sword and quickly moved to the side as an arrow shot past his head, Ex quickly ducked behind the throne as another arrow shot past the side of it, slicing past his arm and cutting it slightly as he winced again.

The male took a breath and quickly shuffled around his inventory as he heard footsteps coming towards the throne, grabbing the smooth, greenish-blue item that he had and quickly tossed it over the throne.

The king piglin swung and its sword hit the back of the throne hard, an annoyed grunt left it as it yanked the sword out of the mark it left, looking around for the male.

Another enderpearl hit the ground behind the mob and Ex swiped his sword at the piglin again, slicing it's back open and earned a deep, pained squeal in response. The piglin spun around as Ex swung again, getting a gash across its stomach before his arm was grabbed again, squeaking as he was quickly swung around and thrown into one of the columns lining the walls.

A soft swear left him as he slid down the wall, the feeling of blood beginning to trickle down his head was quickly ignored. Hearts bouncing down to seven left as he moved to block an attack with his sword, pushing back against the piglins sword as he slowly got up, gritting his teeth as he found himself losing his grip.

The piglin slashed his arm with its tusks, a pained cry slipped from Ex as his sword dropped out of his hand and he quickly ducked; narrowly avoiding a sword to the head as he pushed the piglin away and ran to grab his sword, sliding to it and picking it up.

Ex stood up and jolted forward, freezing in place as his eyes widened as his breathing shuttered, sword clanking to his feet as a low laugh emerged from the king. He slowly looked down and shakily moved a hand to the golden sword piercing out of his chest.

The sword was yanked out of him and he was shoved forward to the floor, hands moving to clutch his shirt as tears welled in his eyes from the pain.

The piglin stood above him and laughed lowly, Ex bit his lip to keep in a cry and slowly looked back at it before his eyes trailed down to the diamond sword a few blocks away from him.

The glitched mob lifted the sword up and timed slowed down to Ex, brain going through all that happened in his redemption.

He got his best friend back and gained two more in the process, he made friends with most of the people who used to hate him, he got a boyfriend who loved him for who he was..

But he didn't get to prove himself to his own brother.

Ex felt a jolt of adrenaline shoot through him as leaned over, grabbing the sword on the floor and shutting his eyes as he quickly jabbing it in-front of himself.

He slowly opened his eyes when he realized he hadn't been stabbed and looked up, the king had the sword stabbing through his chest and stilled, a pained grunt came from it as it proofed into thin air, it's crown clanking to the floor by his feet.

Ex stayed still before biting his lip and slowly trying to get up, pain shooting through him as he fell back down with a sob, tears welling up in his eyes and slipping down his face as he hesitantly tried again.

He had to get home.

-

Blood soaked the already red shirt the male wore and turned it darker red and he slowly trudged his way through the path home, piglin who saw him quickly scurried away after recognizing that he had killed their king, so he stepped past the line to the piglin's territory without little issue.

He looked up and his eyes locked onto a soft purple glow in a black frame a few chunks away, he sped up slightly and stumbled, almost falling through the portal as he was quickly transported to the overworld.

Xisuma heard the noise of the portal transporting something through and sighed softly, moving to put his helmet on before a soft "X-Xisuma .." hit his ears.

He groaned slightly when processing it as Ex's voice and hesitantly turned around after a quick mental argument with himself over apologizing to his twin, eyes tinted with fake annoyance for a moment before quickly filling with fear as he noticed the state his lookalike was in.

"Ex- Ex oh my god-" Xisuma took a step towards the other as Ex did too, stumbling slightly as he did before Xisuma quickly ran forward to catch his brother as he fell forward.

Xisuma frantically looked Ex over, gloved hands hovering over the wound in the other's chest as he bit his lip. "What happened, how did you get hurt like this??" He began, freezing for a moment "..W-what are your hearts at??" X muttered, tears beginning to grow in his eyes.

Ex didn't answer as a small smile made its way onto his face. "I d-dealt with your p-piglin issue."

"You're not answering my question-"

"You'll have two less problems to d-deal with-"

Xisuma bit back a choked sob at what the other said and felt tears slip down his face. "You're not a problem, I-I was irrationally angry at you and shouldn't have been a-and-" He cut off with a shaky breath. "Goddamnit Ex I-I can't lose you!!"

"Hey-" Ex muttered, slowly grabbing Xisuma's hand while giving him a broken smile.

"It-it's Xanthus.." Ex murmured softly, squeezing his brother's hand. "Nn-not Ex, not Evil X.." He added, eyes losing their shine as his gaze unfocused.

Xisuma held him tighter, tears freely flowing down his face as Ex's eyes fluttered shut and he went limp, grip on his brother's hand fading away to nothingness.

"X..Xanthus..?" Xisuma said quietly, staring at him before giving his brother a slight shake, face shifting to pure distress. "Xanthus- Xanthus please!" He choked out, holding the other closer to him as Ex's body slowly faded into nothingness, leaving Xisuma on his hands and knees as he sobbed harder.

The entire server went still as the communicator buzzed, a singular message popped up on the small screen as Xisuma's world came crashing down around him.

[Evil Xisuma has been slain by a [][][][][] ]


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> -This 'bonus' is technically a part 5  
> -It's my apology for part 4  
> -This is the last chapter of the OLC series! No more after this.  
> -Also; conformed by me; the author,,  
> It's not Xisuma's fault in this that Ex died, Ex could've found a different approach to redeem himself but went another way. Sure, Xisuma was an asshole, but he isn't to blame.
> 
> //Didn't proofread, mention the mistakes I made if they make something sound weird af//

It had been days since the other hermits had seen Xisuma.

Sure, Tango and Iskall had begun to visit him every day to make sure the admin wouldn't do anything extreme, even if they weren't in Permadeath as Ex had been in, Xisuma had the ability to change that with a few commands.

Ever since the dreaded death message had popped up in the chat Xisuma had been quiet, no one, minus the hermits that came to check on him, saw him anywhere but his base. He hadn't shown up to the shopping district, he wouldn't talk in chat; hell, you would barely see him outside of his base either.

Xisuma stayed inside, scribbling things down in a book and quill before typing them into the admin commands chat, followed by him swearing to himself and deleting whatever he typed before the cycle repeated.

Tango was really worried. Ex's death hit the server harder than expected. Stress and Grian cried for hours, NPG literally broke down and Grian had to fix his lookalike. Iskall regretted never giving the male an actual chance while everyone who was still somewhat distant also felt really bad.

However, they all continued with their lives after a while.

Xisuma wasn't though.

Every moment he spent awake was trying desperately to find a way to bring his twin back.

Most nights resulted in him passed out at his desk. Iskall did the night checkups on the admin so they were normally the one to find the admin out like a light and bring him to bed, if Xisuma were still awake Iskall had to plead with him to at least take a break.

Tango wouldn't let Xisuma continue working in the day until he ate, the brunette was constantly shoving it aside to continue looking for a solution. The male didn't even have the energy to argue back with Tango half the time.

Everyone knew that Xisuma blamed himself completely, and no matter how much the hermits who visited tried to tell him that no one blamed him and that it wasn't his fault, he completely ignored them.

-

Weeks had passed and Xisuma was having no luck, he grew into the routine of waking up, working for hours, being forced to eat and take a break, working even more before being forced to go to bed or brought back to his bed.

Xisuma stared at the admin command chat up on his communicator in his gloved hand, thumb hovering over the enter button as his glossy eyes locked onto one last command he had typed out. Tango stood next to him, since he was giving X one more try before making him take a break.

This was his last chance, though. He had gone through over eight thousand commands and fifteen books; all of which ended up completely useless to him.

This was the last command he had.

Xisuma took a shaky breath and shut his eyes before quickly pressing enter...

..A small buzz broke the silence and Tango paused, taking out his own communicator as Xisuma hesitantly looked at his own.

[Evil Xisuma joined the game]

-

Ex squeezed his eyes shut at the sudden brightness that was switched out with the darkness of the void around him, he felt his body suddenly on a surface and put a hand above his eyes to block them from the light before slowly opening them.

The red cladded male's eyes widened before he quickly sat up, ignoring how the sun hurt his eyes as he looked around himself and then at his surroundings.

He was back on the spawn island.

Ex was quick to stand up and stumbled slightly, looking around before feeling around in hopes that he spawned with a communicator.

Thankfully, a bunch of buzzing began to come from his back pocket and he hastily grabbed the communicator from his pocket

[Iskall85: Holy shit]

[Stress: Oh my goodness-]

[Grian: EXY!!]

[Docm77: Xisuma did it??]

[Tango: Where did he spawn??]

Ex immediately type out a response

[Evil Xisuma: I'm at the spawn island]

[Stress: On my way]

[Grian: Me too!!]

[Tango: Be there soon]

-

Xisuma stood straight up after reading everything and almost fell over from the sudden headache that hit him from the lack of sleep, Tango was quick to catch him, but didn't let go

"Let me go Tango-" The admin said, getting a hesitant head shake from the blonde

"You're in no shape to see him-"

Xisuma's hands moved to weakly grip Tango's arms as he tried to move out of the other's hold. "I need to see him"

"You would never make it there Xisu-" He cut off as he noticed the other's shoulders begin to shake.

Xisuma squeezed his eyes shut as a few tears began to slip down his face. "No, no Tango please I-  
I need to see him- I need to-" He sobbed, face pressed against Tango's chest as his weak grip just barely tightened. He was desperate.

Tango stepped back and moved to cup the male's cheeks, making him look at him. "I'll bring him straight here, you'd wouldn't make it to the nether portal in your state, so you'd never make it to spawn."

"But-"

"I'll bring him here as soon as I can, he wouldn't want to see you like this. Just rest for now."

Xisuma wanted to protest, complain, anything; but Tango already moved to sit him down on the bed and quickly flew off.

-

When Tango got there Ex was quite literally trapped in a hug by Stress and Grian that Tango was quick to join in. "Holy fuck we missed you-" Tango muttered, getting two separate nods from the strawberry blonde and brunette.

"I missed you guys too-" Ex murmured into the big group hug before paused. "Where's Xisuma??"

Tango broke the hug and quickly moved to take off his elytra and shove it into Ex's hands. "Put it on." He muttered as he slipped on another elytra. "You're going to see him. Right now."

-

"Xisuma?"

Ex's voice hit Xisuma's ears again and he spun around to face where the sound came from; definitely quicker than anyone really expected for how tired and weak he was.

The admin's brown eyes locked onto Ex's red ones and in a matter of moments Ex found himself in another tight hug with his twin, though, he wasn't dying this time.

The two moved to sit on the floor together and an endless amount of "I'm sorry"'s slipped from Xisuma like he was a broken record, all of which Ex replied by softly reassuring his twin that it was okay and that he was okay.

They sat there together as the admin cried and Ex hushed him, Xisuma kept his tight grip on the other until he slowly drifted asleep, finally able to rest peacefully knowing Xanthus was safe now.

-

Everything was back to normal after Ex was back. Xisuma got himself together again, and a healthy schedule set since Ex promptly yelled at him when he found out just how much Xisuma threw away his health to get him back onto the server.

NPG was over the moon happy to see his boyfriend again, the Grian lookalike would not leave Ex alone for an entire day and every other second would hug the taller male.

Ex had the chance to get closer with the hermits who didn't like him much and he became his part of the hermitcraft family. Iskall actually became one of his friends.

"Xanthus." Xisuma's voice snapped the void walker out of his thoughts, he turned around to face his brother and Tango. "Yep?"

"Are you coming with us to vote for a mayor?" Xisuma said as Tango got his elytra on and adjusted it.

"Duh, Scar for mayor all the way."

Tango snickered softly and took out his rockets "Grian is going to flip when he finds out your voting for Mumbo's rival candidate, let's go" Tango said, opening his elytra and shooting off to the nether portal.

Ex smiled and put on his own elytra, giving Xisuma a small nod before the two flew after Tango.

After so many years of being seen as a villain, Ex finally had a place on the server as a 'player'.

He finally belonged.


End file.
